Right Before Your Eyes
by matsuo nakata
Summary: Yuffie can get on just about anybody's nerves, especially when she screams at seven in the morning because Vincent could be dying from lack of oxygen in a locked closet... Pairings: Cloti, Cidshera, and possible VincentOC or yuffentine. some angst
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do NOT own FF7 or any of its characters (i own the game though ).

This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic so i don't know how good it is, and sorry if Aeris is a little OOC. I really don't have a clue as to how to write her. Anyway, on with the fic!

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Chapter 1: Arrival

"Gawd, Cloud! We've been walking for DAYS! I'm tired, hungry, and I feel like that Sephiroth dude is cutting off my legs! I swear, if we don't stop soon..."

"Rocket Town is right up ahead. We can rest at the inn and stock up on our supplies when we get there." The young ninja was cut off by the leader of the group, Cloud Strife.

"Yea, so shuddup' brat!" the founder of Avalanche, Barret, added loudly while waving his gun-arm in the air.

"You _so_ did not just call me a brat. If I wasn't so tired I would go all ninja on your ass!" Yuffie threatened, making a violent gesture with her hands towards the large man.

Just as Barret was about to argue back the young flower girl from the slums of Midgar spoke up quietly. "Please, arguing isn't going to get us anywhere, besides, look. We're almost there." Aeris pointed towards the large, green, rocket that cast a shadow over the grassy plains that surrounded the area.

"I agree." added the fiery, crimson, cat-like creature that they all came to know as Red XIII. "Arguing will only waste our energy and I for one do not want to have to carry Yuffie to Rocket Town." He lazily glared at the hyperactive "brat" with his one eye

The group nodded and continued towards the rocket mostly in silence. The newest member of the band of rebels was an ex-turk named Vincent Valentine. He had remained quiet through out most of the journey but decided to speak up on something that had been bothering him since they had gotten out of the Nibel Mountains. "We should stay on guard." he brushed a stray strand of ebony hair out of his face before continuing in his monotone voice. "I've had a strange feeling a ever since we left the Nibel area. It's been getting stronger as we get closer to Rocket Town."

Cloud nodded in affirmation. "Everyone stick together and be on the lookout for anything strange." he ordered the group while unsheathing his large buster sword. _That's strange... Aeris is the one that normally feels when things are wrong._

Tifa, Cloud's childhood friend and martial arts expert, moved closer to Cloud and scanned the area with her wine-colored eyes. _Hmmm, Vincent usually doesn't say anything unless it's important. Gods I hope that it's nothing. _She thought while chewing on a loose strand of hair. A nervous habit that she had, had since she was a small child.

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Crimson eyes surveyed the treeless landscape searching for any sign of danger. _Nothing, not a thing in site except for that rocket. _The dark gunman continued following the others at the back of the group, silently pondering the oddly familiar feeling that he had been having. It was as if something was begging him to find whatever it was no matter what the costs. The feeling got stronger and stronger as they neared the entrance of the town.

He reached down and switched the safety off of the outsider. He couldn't remember ever being this on-edge before in his life. Adrenaline pumped through his body causing his hands to shake slightly. _Perhaps being in that coffin for so long really had more of an effect on me than I thought._

"_What's wrong host, scared?_" Chaos sneered in the back of his mind.

_I am only being cautious. I don't know all of what Hojo did to me, and I haven't fought in quite a while. _Vincent replied to the beast that was caged in the back of his mind.

_"Don't lie. If you think that I don't feel that presence then you're even more stupid than I thought you were!_"

The beast really was quite annoying, unfortunately it was impossible to lie to and he would have to live with it for the rest of his depressing life. He mentally glared at the demon and continued to follow the rest of the group in silence.

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After walking for nearly another hour they finally trudged into Rocket Town and towards the inn. Cloud shuffled up to the front desk and rang the bell. A short man with wide rimmed glasses arrived shortly after and looked them over as though he had seen a ghost.

They were a horrible sight really. None of them had showered in days and were caked from head to toe in mud, blood, and sweat. Not to mention the fact that they were an odd group to begin with, Cloud was surprised that the humble man hadn't run away screaming yet.

With seemingly another hour passing, the front desk man finally spoke in his high and squeaky voice. "Uhhh, Hello sir. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"We need three rooms please." Cloud responded quickly handing the man the amount of gil needed. _We don't have a lot of gil and it would be really stretching it to buy a room for each of us._Cloud scratched his head while thinking about who would share the rooms.

The older man gave them their keys and made a gave the group another nervous glance before heading back into the room that he previously came from.

The group stompped up the stairs and stopped at the top where there was a long burgundy rug that stretched the length of the hallway.

The blond sighed loudly and turned to speak with the others. "We'll have to split into three groups of two. Yuffie and Aeris in one room, Barret and Tifa in another, and Vincent and me can also share a room. Red, you can stay in my room and Cait can go in Tifa and Barret's room. Let's all get rested up and meet outside the inn at seven o'clock tomorrow morning." Once Cloud finished, everyone headed to their rooms without protest and proceeded to wander around town.

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I hope it was alright for my first time. I'll probably have the next chapter out in a couple of days. I could really use a beta-er if anyone is willing to help.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Great Escape (And Even Greater Ninja Detective Yuffie)

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_ "How could you do that?! Use your own __child__ for an experiment?!"_

_ "Silence!" the faded out man shouted as a enormous '__**bang**__' was heard._

_ The former turk fell to the ground with a loud thump as the bullet dug a hole into his chest. His vision blurred as he struggled to breathe, only to result in blood rushing into his lungs with each failed attempt. He winced as the maniacal laughter of his murderer grew louder and louder until the shrill sound pounded inside his head. _

_ The image of the mad scientist transformed, showing a woman with emerald eyes and a white lab coat suddenly collapse onto a wooden floor. The scene then flashed from that of the woman to a man with long silver hair smiling wickedly at the turk._

_ He tried to call out his lovers' name but not a sound left his mouth as everything went black._

"LUCRECIA!!" Vincent bolted upright, his eyes wide with fear and sweat running down his pale back. After taking a few deep breaths he looked over and was relieved to see the dark silhouette of the ex-SOLDIER in the bed on the other side of the room. The gunman ripped the soaking sheets off of his legs and quietly padded into the bathroom. After softly closing the door, he went to the sink and splashed water in his face while trying to forget about the dream that kept playing over and over through his mind.

"Lucrecia..." he repeated softly to himself before shaking his head sadly. He silently exited the room and checked the time. _'5:30. It's to early to go back to sleep, might as well take a walk to pass the time'_ he thought to himself.

About fifteen minutes later he was tightening the last buckle on his red cape and he proceeded to head outside of the inn.

_ 'I don't deserve the freedom of being able to wander this planet...' _Vincent thought, his metal boots making a heavy thudding sound as they repeatedly fell upon the dirt road that lead into town.

_ 'Let's see, what's next? Well there's already been: I don't deserve to breathe, I don't deserve to walk, I don't deserve to have friends. Oh, and there was: I don't deserve to speak, I don't deserve to..._' Chaos continued to try and name everything that Vincent had ever said that he didn't deserve, which was starting to give him a massive headache.

_ 'Is there __**anything**__ that __**think **__you deserve you idiot?!'_

Vincent had to ponder for a moment on the demons' question. Did he truly deserve anything? No. A monster didn't deserve anything. Except for one thing maybe.

_ 'Actually, I think there is something I deserve.'_

_ 'What?! The dark, emotionless, prince of brooding can actually think of something that he __**deserves**__! I'm speechless!'_ Chaos exclaimed with as much sarcasm and entirely over the top drama that he could muster into the sentence.

_ 'Another demon that can constantly remind me of how much I don't deserve to exist'_

_ 'And he surprises me yet again! So you want me to help you find a sexy girl that'll wear some plastic bat wings and fuck you every day just so that you feel __**really**__ guilty about "betraying" your dead chick. Then you'd be constantly thinking about how undeserving you are of everything! That's a very smart idea if I do say myself Mr. Broody.'_

Vincent grimaced. That demon could be utterly... distasteful at times. _'I meant that I am deserving of you, Chaos. __**You**__ seem to continue to remind me of what a monster I am.' _he looked down at his golden claw in disgust as if to verify that his last statement was true.

_ '__**I'm**__ the first thing that dark and depressive actually thinks that he deserves?! Should I be honored?'_

Vincent ignored the last comment and continued walking forward, the slight breeze making his tattered cape ripple back and forth. He stopped when he came across a small diner that seemed to be begging him to go inside. He was a bit thirsty so it wouldn't hurt to get a cup of coffee, right? The ex-turk cautiously pushed open the glass door and stepped inside.

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'_Ugh, who the hell is screaming this early in the morning?!' _The blonde sat up and yawned loudly before nearly being tackled onto the floor by a flying ninja, or so it seemed.

"CLOUD!! VINNIE'S GONE!! WE _HAVE_ TO FIND HIM!! WHAT IF HE GOT KIDNAPED BY A GIANT, FLEE INFESTED, MAN EATING CHOCOBO!! OR WHAT IF HE ACCIDENTLY LOCKED HIMSELF IN THE CLOSET AND HE'S DYING FROM LACK OF OXYGEN!!! I mean it would make sense and all cuz' if he like coffins then he would like closets, _right_? RIGHT!?"

_ 'I should have known...' _Cloud glared daggers at the ninja that was shaking him by the shoulders as if he were a can of spray paint. "Yuffie, what are you doing?"

"I'll SAVE YOU VINNIE!!" Yuffie charged the closet door at full speed

"Yuffie! There isn't anyone in the..." Cloud yelled but was a couple seconds too late. "...closet." Yuffie ran face first into the wooden door and stumbled backwards landing flat on her ass.

The resulting crash woke up just about everyone that was staying at the inn.

"Oh my gods, what happened?!" Tifa yelled bursting into the room with the rest of Avalanche following closely behind, all wearing their pajamas and looking half-dead.

Cloud sighed. "It seems that Yuffie had the revelation that Vincent was locked in the closet dying from lack of oxygen."

Everyone stood silent, staring wide-eyed at a black and blue Yuffie with a small nosebleed sitting on the floor, rubbing her forehead.

"I shoulda' known it'd have somethin' to do wit that brat." Barret turned and walked out of the room grumbling obscenities as he shuffled down the hallway.

Aeris walked across the wooden floor and cast cure on the young girl. "Are you alright?"she asked with a bit of concern in her voice while trying to mask a yawn.

"I'm fine...ouch... oh my, LEVIATHON! WHERE'S VINNIE!! I DIDN'T SAVE HIM!?" Yuffie jumped up and waved her arms in the air, seeming to completely forgetting how much her head had previously hurt a few seconds ago.

Tifa walked to the other side of the room and opened up the closet for Yuffie. " See? Vincent is **not** dying in the closet..." she said with an annoyed look on her face.

Yuffie examined every single square inch of the small closet for nearly 15 minutes before exiting the small space with a toothy grin. "After my super ninja inspection, I have concluded that Vinnie is _not_ in the closet. Of course, I knew that all along! But anyway, it could only mean..."

"YUFFIE, NO!" everyone yelled simultaneously.

"But what are we gonna do! Vincent just disappeared! He's probably calling out to me for help in his last dying breaths!" Yuffie responded trying to sound as heart broken and emotional as possible. Of course this didn't work very well because Yuffie was possibly the worst actor in the history of Gaia, according to Cait Sith.

"Which reminds me, Yuffie." Cloud began. "How _did_ you find out that Vincent was missing?" he ended with an almost evil smirk.

"Oh well you see... I... ummmm... ah hah! iwasjustgoingtocheckthetimecuzmyclockwasntworkingandwelltimetogocya!" with that, Yuffie sped out the door and out of the inn.

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"Well, now that we've wasted an hour dealing with Yuffie, we only have an hour until we were supposed to meet outside. So I guess we should all hurry up and get ready." everyone left Clouds' room and headed back to their own to get ready. _'Gods help her if that brat does anything stupid again...'_

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Authors Note: I tried to experiment a little with this chapter in adding a bit of humor. I'm finding that Cloud is probably the hardest character to write so I'm constantly worrying if he's OOC. So if anyone has any suggestions, please do tell. Thanks for reading, and I should have the next chapter out in a couple of days ) ps: I'm trying to decide between making this Vincent/OC or Yuffentine, maybe I'll do both.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Found you!

Vincent was sitting in the small diner sipping at his cup of jasmine tea while reading the newspaper. The place was rather peaceful, with only a few people chatting quietly and enjoying their breakfast. It was the type of place that you could go to if you wanted to get away from everything for a while to just think, the type of place that Vincent enjoyed being at more than anywhere else. Of course there was only one problem. The probability of a place staying quiet and peaceful automatically drops to zero once Yuffie invades it.

"VINNIE!!"

Vincent was barely given any time to think before a flying object... rather... person, came directly at him with a nearly inhuman amount of speed.

"I thought you were dead!" Yuffie was clinging onto Vincent like a giant stuffed bear, nearly choking him to death in the process. This won the ninja several stares from the others currently occupying small restaurant.

"Yuffie... If you would kindly stop slobbering on my cloak and remove yourself..." the stoic gunman was now glaring down at the dark haired girl who had seeming attached herself to him.

Yuffie dettached herself from the man and slowly turned her back to him. _'Gods Vinnie, you are such a jerk' _She turned slightly, narrowing her eyes while sticking her tongue out at the ex-turk childishly. "And _this_ is the thanks I get for saving your butt? Gawsh, I'm never gonna talk to you again now!" with that, the ninja sat down in a chair on the other side of the diner proceeding to mumble threats under her breathe.

Vincent smirked underneath the cowl of his cape. _'Such a punishment...'_

A few moments later the rest of Avalanche caught up with Yuffie and were entering the old fashioned diner. Cloud and his 'pet dog', Red, chose to sit at the table with Vincent while Aeris went over to talk with Yuffie. The remaining members sat at a table next to the one that Vincent, Red, and Cloud were currently occupying.

"Is that all your having?" Cloud pointed to the cup of tea that Vincent was holding in his good hand. The gunman nodded, his face half obscured by the collar of his cloak. _'Does he ever eat? There's no way that he can't be hungry.' _the ex-SOLDIER pondered while looking over at Aeris and Yuffie. _'Aeris... why did I let you get involved in this mess?' _Sure, Aeris had chosen to come along, but he still felt guilty about Shinra kidnaping her. _'Some body guard I am...'_ he rested his chin on the palm of his hand and looked out the dusty window.

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Aeris quietly walked over to Yuffie and sat town across from the young ninja.

"Hi Aeris." Yuffie looked up briefly at the flower girl and quickly went back to examining some materia she had organized into a little pile on the table.

" Is there something wrong?" Aeris said with a smile.

Yuffie shook her head back and forth in what Aeris could only assume meant 'no'. "Come on, you _can_ talk to me you know!"

The ninja cautiously moved forward and motioned the flower girl to come closer. Yuffie whispered, "Is that person over there still staring at me?"

"What?" Aeris sat back in her chair and nearly laughed.

"SHHHHHH!!" Yuffie's eyes widened and she raised a finger to her mouth. "Shut up! It'll hear us!" she shout-whispered.

"What person are you talking about, Yuffie?" the Cetra tried to hold a serious tone so she wouldn't upset the younger girl.

"Theonethatssittingatthattableinthecornerbehindme!"

Aeris looked behind Yuffie to find a heavily shadowed corner with what looked like a single person reading a copy of the newspaper. "Yuffie, that person isn't looking at you at all. They're reading the news." She stifled a laugh.

"But I swear, they were staring at me like five minutes ago!"

"Ummm, well Yuffie, I think everyone was staring at you five minutes ago."

Yuffie glared. "I was just _saving_ Vinnie, is there something _seriously_ wrong with that?!"

_ 'Does she really think that she was saving Vincent? I wonder sometimes...' _Aeris thought in amusement. "I know, it's just..."

"Just what?!" Yuffie was now standing up in her chair with her hands on her hips.

"It's just, the way you, uhhh, _saved_ Vincent was a bit... dramatic?" Aeris knew this wasn't going well but she didn't know what else to say to her companion.

"Gawd! Even _you_! Hmph!" Yuffie jumped off the chair and marched to the door with her nose held high in the air.

"Yuffie... I didn't mean it like _that_!" The flower girl was about to get up and follow the ninja when...

"Elena, please, your going to ruin our reputation."

Yuffie was knocked down by a door for the second time that day as it swung open and three blue suits walked in...

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Authors Note: It sucks, I know. I had planned to make this chapter longer but I decided that it may add a little suspense if I stopped it there. Anyway, the next chapter will be up in a couple days probably so R&R ) PS: I'm still trying to decided whether to make this a Vincent/OC or Yuffentine so please tell me what you all want. If anybody wants me to write any other pairings in this please tell me and I'll consider it. Thanks! )


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Meetings

"You!" Cloud stood up suddenly as three of the Turks entered the already cramped restaurant. The rest of Avalanche stood up a second later and readied their weapons, all glaring at the blue suits.

"Reno! It's Avalanche! What do we do?!" Elena shouted at the Turks leader.

The red head turned to Cloud, his EMR lazily resting on his shoulder. "As much as I'd like to get you back for our last little incident, I'm afraid we aren't here to deal with you guys."

"What?" All of Avalanche looked at the three in confusion, still holding their guard just in case they tried anything.

Reno rolled his eyes. "You heard me, _we_ aren't _here_... for _you_."

"Then what the hell are you here fo' fool!" Barret yelled at the Turk while pointing his gun-arm at the man.

Rude and Elena shifted their feet looking a bit annoyed.

Reno ran a hand through his spiky hair. "The president is going to be arriving here soon and plus we were ordered to capture somebody. Now that you've wasted most of our time, we'll go and continue with our business." The Turk turned and started making his way to the back of the diner as Elena followed while Rude stood like a statue in front of the door.

Avalanche watched the two carefully as they made their way to the back corner where the person who had been supposedly staring at Yuffie was sitting. Tifa moved closer to Cloud. "Whatever they're doing it can't be good, so I really think that we should stop them from taking that person over there. That is if that's who they're looking for." The martial artist whispered in the swordsman's ear.

Cloud nodded and watched the two carefully, ready to attack in case the Turks tried to make a fast get-away.

"Well, well, well. Who do we have **here**?!" Reno sneered on the last word and lifted the strangers chin up with his EMR. The unknown person glared daggers at the redhead then suddenly slid under the table and made a run for the door.

"Rude! Elena!" Reno shouted at the two Turks.

"Sir!" They both acknowledged in unison.

Rude got in a fighting stance and Elena shot the stranger just grazing their left arm. The stranger stumbled to the ground while grabbing a hold of their arm that the bullet had hit.

The diner's employees and the rest of the inhabitants all ducked under tables and chairs in fear of the events that were taking place.

Red XIII lunged at Elena in order to keep her from shooting anymore as Tifa rushed in to land a punch on the unsuspecting Rude who was knocked backwards and then punished with a mild concussion by the bartender. Cloud then blocked an attack by Reno with his giant buster sword, just barely dodging a blow to the head. Red continued to dig his claw into the blond Turk pinning her to the ground making it impossible for her to move. Red then grabbed the gun she was holding with his mouth and launched it high into the air as best as he could. Vincent steadied his aim and shot the weapon out of the air rendering the Turks' weapon useless.

Seeing that Cloud was having trouble with Reno, Yuffie jumped on top of the table and threw her oversized shuriken the minute she had a clear shot. The Turk was caught by surprise as the blade dug through his shoulder and was thrown backwards by Cloud.

"Come on, we gotta run!" Reno yelled to his two comrades. The three got up and limped out of the diner the best they could. Just before he went out though, Reno turned around and glared at Cloud. "We're not done yet..." The redhead smirked at the stranger before turning around and heading out the door after his team mates.

"WOOHOO!! Yeah, we rock!" Yuffie did a little victory dance before jumping off the table and walked up to Red to pat his nose. The dog like creature looked up in annoyance with his one eye at the cheerful ninja.

People began to come out of their hiding places and sighed in relief.

After helping the owners clean up the place Aeris walked up to the stranger who was standing with their arms crossed in the corner. "Are you alright?" The flower girl asked as she reached out to examine where the bullet had grazed the skin of the woman.

The stranger pulled back her arm swiftly and glared distrustfully at the shorter girl. "I'm fine..." She sneered in a whispering voice.

"It wouldn't hurt to check though." Aeris stated, smiling nervously at the nameless woman clad in black.

"I _said_ that I'm fine..." she replied with more of an edge to her voice. She then turned her gaze to the window and crossed her arms. The conversation, if you could call it that, was seemingly getting nowhere so Aeris decided to leave the silent stranger alone.

Yuffie watched as Aeris walked away from the mystery person and decided to confront the 'stare-er' (in Yuffie's mind at least.) She skipped over to the woman and tried to mimic her posture by crossing her arms and looking down at the floor. After a few moments of seemingly being ignored, she knitted her eye brows together in frustration and coughed loudly. The stranger looked up slightly and glared at the ninja while slightly raising one of her eye brows. Yuffie immediately threw her arms behind her back and plastered a cheerful smile onto her face. "Hiya! I'm Yuffie!"

The woman looked back down at the floor and ignored Yuffie again. Unfortunately Yuffie hates being ignored and will go to quite drastic measures to maker _sure_ that she's noticed. She grumbled and placed her hands on her hips while glaring at the silent person. "Hey, I have a question for you..." The ninja asked raising her voice slightly.

"Hm?"

"Were you staring at me after I _saved _Vincent, cuz that was kinda creepy if ya where." The ninja said with a suspicious look on her face. The taller woman snapped her head up and blood red eyes with a dark red rim pierced straight through Yuffie's grey ones.The ninja shifted nervously and moved around slightly but the other's gaze still wouldn't falter. "Ummm, I think I'd better be going... heh heh, nice, uhh, talking with you!" Yuffie swore she saw one side of the strangers' mouth turn up slightly in a sadistic smirk as she quickly walked away from the situation. _'What a weirdo...'_

Once Avalanche had finished cleaning up the place Cloud looked up as the mystery person they had saved approached him.

"Thanks for the help back there."

"Sure, we're pretty familiar with the Turks and figured they probably weren't up to any good. Why were they after you anyway?" Cloud responded with a serious look on his face.

The woman paused a minute before answering. "Shinra accused me of plotting to destroy one of the reactors..." She shifted her weight and avoided looking at the blonde.

Cloud didn't believe what she had said for a second but decided to go with it. "You know, Rufus is going to be here pretty soon, I suppose you could tag along if you want..." Cloud looked around at everyone as they nodded a bit hesitantly. This woman was a stranger and they couldn't tell whether her story was true or not.

"Are you sure?" she questioned.

"Why not?" Cloud responded with a shrug.

"I guess."

"Alright, well I'm Cloud, you?"

The woman looked down at him. "Shadow."

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Authors Note: Just in case I didn't make this clear enough, Shadow talks without any tone to her voice. So it's sort of like whispering, but she's still loud enough that you can hear her and understand what she's saying. Just wanted to clarify that 'cause it's an important part of her character. Everyone's favorite chain smoker and tea drinker will probably be introduced in the next chapter so don't worry about me leaving him out. Sorry if it sucked, it'll get better. (PS: I know that most people are probably thinking that Shadow is going to be a Mary Sue because of my pen name, but let me make it clear that I made my pen name based on the character not me. R&R ) 


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